Seth Jacobson

Principal
Seth Jacobson is one of the nation’s leading marketing and communications specialists, with more than 25 years’ experience in corporate communications, coalition advocacy and public affairs. Jacobson has specialized in creating highly effective advocacy programs for companies, governmental agencies and organizations competing in the new global marketplace. He has built a global reputation in corporate and non-profits education and advocacy and media campaigns, including building coalitions around climate change, innovation, health management, energy development and financial literacy.

Beyond his work in the public sector, he has executed sophisticated communications, crisis and grassroots programs and social impact media ventures for organizations as diverse as the; American Hospitality and Leisure Association, Celanese Corporation, Chevron, Charter Communications, Energy Upgrade California, Build With Strength Coalition, Intuit, Raytheon, Cornell University and Ferrari/Maserati North America among others. He has also developed outreach programs and education strategies for public agencies such as: US State and Commerce Departments, State of California 's Business Development and Marketing Program, California's Teen Pregnancy Initiatives and work with United Nations NGO’s.

Prior to starting JCI, he spent 12 years leading the western divisions of two of the nation's largest public relations / advertising agencies - Ogilvy & Mather, and Edelman Public Relations - where he ran divisions responsible for public affairs, public relations and new technology. Prior to this, Jacobson spent five years working in Washington, D.C., including several years in high level positions in the Carter and Clinton Administrations in positions focused on press relations, global and national presidential events, technology, economic development and foreign policy.

Jacobson is a lecturer at UCLA and Pepperdine University on marketing, public relations and crisis communications.

Steven C. Crosby

Senior Advisor
Steve Crosby was most recently Senior Vice President of Frontier Communications Corporation www.frontier.com (NASDAQ: FTR; a Fortune 500 and an S&P 500 company) responsible for the legislative and regulatory affairs for half of the country for Frontier. Frontier is the largest telecommunications company in the United States with a focus on serving rural, small towns as well as urban centers in the 29 states where it operates. Immediately prior to Frontier, Crosby managed Vulcan Inc.’s (a Seattle-based company) corporate communications department which encompassed public, media relations as well as government and community relations at the local, state and federal level. His additional duties included marketing, advertising, graphic design, event management and internal communications. Vulcan Inc. www.vulcan.com is the privately held company for global investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen co-founder of Microsoft.

With over 30 years of experience with a wide-variety of clients and issues, Crosby has a broad range of skills in corporate communications including strategic and crisis communications, issues management, media training, branding/corporate image, sports public relations, land-use, permitting/entitlement, fundraising, government/community relations to grassroots and coalition-building.

Prior to joining Vulcan Inc. he worked at AT&T Wireless (AWS) and its predecessor Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Company (LACTC), in the Southern California regional office in charge of both public relations as well as government affairs aspects for AWS

Ron Wong

JCI Advisory Board Member
Ronald W. Wong has more than twenty-five years of professional experience executing and managing communications strategies, government relations, public affairs and business development for Fortune 500 companies, elected officials, government entities and individuals.

Mr. Wong has unrivaled experience and contacts in business, politics and government at the state, national and local levels. He is a recognized expert in marketing, business development and strategy development.

Currently, Mr. Wong is President & CEO of Imprenta Communications Group, an award-winning public affairs, ethic marketing and campaign firm. Imprenta was recently recognized by Inc 500, as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in America. Imprenta is the 12th largest PR agency in Southern California and 9th Fastest Growing Company in L.A. County in 2015.

Mr. Wong served as the Chief Deputy Appointments Secretary to California Governor Gray Davis. He also helped select and recruit members of Governor Davis’ cabinet as a member of the Governor’s transition team. In 1997, President Clinton tapped Mr. Wong to serve as Director of External Communications for the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Services. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Wong served as Founding Partner of Lang, Murakawa & Wong (LMW), a strategic communications, marketing and public affairs firm.

Yesenia Vargas

Senior Account Executive
Yesenia Vargas specializes in community engagement and communications. At JCI she has worked in coalition-building, media relations and event management for Energy Upgrade California, awareness campaigns for Identifying Dyslexia, and public opinion research in tandem with Latino Decisions.

Yesenia is heavily involved in community revitalization causes, and is currently a teacher with the Institute for Educational Advancement. She previously worked in public affairs for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, editing and social media at the Center for Public Diplomacy, and psycho-social services at the Cape Town Refugee Center. Yesenia also engages in international politics as a member of the Pacific Council and a freelance journalist. She holds an MA in Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California, as well as a BA in Political Science and a BA in French from Centenary College of Louisiana.

Emily Pflaster

Senior Advisor
Emily serves as Senior Advisor to JCI after a decade of experience of senior positions for national political and
consumer campaigns. Her leadership in persuasion and development campaigns include work with Amnesty International, Environmental Action, The American Civil Liberties Union, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
MoveOn, and Forests Forever. Emily has consulted with corporations, governments, and community organizations to creatively achieve new ideas and overcome obstacles through innovative advocacy and problem solving.

Emily is an alumna of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs,
and came to JCI with extensive relationships and experience related to water, energy, and foreign policy. She is an expert in strategic communication, movement building, project development, persuasive writing, and crisis management.

With JCI, Emily has executed a statewide persuasion campaign
related to voter perception of the Florida 2014 Gubernatorial race. Working with diplomatic allies in the United States, she has developed extensive and lasting community connections and inroads for positive Muslim-Jewish relations and has helped to advance
global dialogue on specific and complex issues of foreign policy. Emily advocated and organized support for the Computer Communications Industry Association on issues of privacy and government checks and balances, and works with local leaders to protect their
communities against and during energy and environmental crises.

Also deeply engaged with creative, political, and Jewish
communities, Emily lived and studied in Israel and graduated Cum Laude from American Jewish University, with an emphasis on
the psychology of voting.

Andrew Frank

KARV Communications, New York Partnership
Andrew brings a wealth of experience in a number of areas, including crisis communications, public affairs and media skills. An expert in creating
communications strategies, Andrew has 25 years of experience overseeing and implementing crisis preparation; managing product recalls; financial
and/or regulatory issues; and identifying and managing communications issues around complicated litigation.

Prior to founding Karv Communications, Andrew served for 15 years in various positions at Strategy XXI Partners and Kreab Gavin Anderson, including
Managing Partner. From 1992-1997 he was a political appointee in the Clinton Administration, including Managing Director of the United States Information
Agency’s New York Foreign Press Center, and Senior Adviser for Communications to the Director of U.S.I.A.

He is a Board Member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Council on Germany, graduated
from The George Washington University in Washington D.C., and studied at Syracuse University’s London Centre. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Crisis Communications
at Fordham University Graduate School of Business, a guest lecturer at Columbia University, American University and others.

Robert Wynne

JCI Advisory Board Member
Robert Wynne is a communications executive with more than 20 years experience in public relations, marketing and journalism. Wynne held positions of leadership in public relations and marketing for a law firm, a developer and for the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Wynne has provided strategic counsel, public relations and marketing strategies along with event planning and production for Cornell University’s Johnson School, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, MIT, UCLA Law School, the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and many others. He worked as a reporter for Newsweek magazine and the Los Angeles Times. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and earned a master’s degree in communications from the University of Texas at Austin. Wynne created the Business Access Media (BAM) conference which brings the world’s top MBA programs to meet with the top financial media and the ENGINE event for Engineering Schools. He writes a public relations column for Forbes.com.